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Jim Blasko Explains 'Unbreakable Coin' (Video 2 of 2)

Posted by timothy on from the is-it-cryptocurrency-or-cryptic-currency? dept.

Today, the conclusion of my talk with Jim Blasko (here's part 1), who encourages you to go start your own crypto currency, because it's a fun exercise and because every entrant adds new ideas to the mix. As you'd expect, he's bullish about both his own Unbreakable Coin and cryptocurrencies more generally; how any given given currency performs, though, is an open question: U.S. dollars, Euros, or Yen may not go experience any meteoric rises, but their stability, even with inflation, is a nice feature, and so is their worldwide convertibility.

Regulation, speculation, fraud, and cultural fashions all play a role in making new currencies risky; reader mbkennel yesterday asked an insightful question: "Are you up to loaning bitcoin or something less popular for 10 years?" Confidence in any given currency can be tested with the terms current holders are willing to accept to make loans payable in that same currency. (On the other hand, if large companies will accept it in payment, they've probably got an idea that a given currency will be around next month or next year.) If you've bought any form of crypto currency, what's been your experience, and what do you expect in 10 years? (Alternate Video Link)

7 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Who the hell cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did this guy suck Timothy's dick to get 2 stories posted? Makes me wonder what Bennett had to do...

  2. ok. i'll play. "my experience is... by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    enduring complaints concerning crypto-currency." yeah, i bought BitCoin back in the day. sold it soon, too. made a little coin. kinda like betting in Vegas. for the lulz.

    1. Re:ok. i'll play. "my experience is... by buchner.johannes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Are you up to loaning bitcoin or something less popular for 10 years?" Confidence in any given currency can be tested with the terms current holders are willing to accept to make loans payable in that same currency. (On the other hand, if large companies will accept it in payment, they've probably got an idea that a given currency will be around next month or next year.)

      That does not follow. A large company can accept Bitcoins and convert immediately to their local currency. That does not require faith in a long-term forecast.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    2. Re:ok. i'll play. "my experience is... by stoborrobots · · Score: 2

      At the very least, large companies need to anticipate short-term stability, which is I think what the quote was getting at.

      A small company, for which a day's takings in Bitcoin is only a fraction of the day's Bitcoin-to-local exchange volume can easily cash out immediately, and so has no need to have an expectation of long-term or short-term stability.

      A large company typically cannot convert a large amount of Bitcoins to local currency instantaneously without destabilising the exchange rate, so they need to have an expectation of short-term (e.g. month-long) stability in order to manage the transaction volume against the local exchange markets.

      Making (largish) loans in a currency implies expectation of decade-long stability.

      --
      "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
  3. Another use of Crypto-coin - as gift cards by davidwr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One use for cryptocurrency that isn't talked about much is as a gift certificate.

    If a store created a custom BC clone and pre-mined it completely, it could assign them an arbitrary fixed value (1 Slash-Dollar = 1 USD???) and sell them as gift cards. The advantage over a regular gift card is that the buyer can then split them and give the pieces to friends as gifts or even trade them on an "open market" if he wanted to (okay, that's being done now, but you get the idea).

    The company that created and pre-mined the cards would be on the hook for all transaction fees. Unlike a "real" currency like BC they could set an expiration date ahead of time or say that "after a certain date, we will charge a hefty fee for all transactions OTHER than through our store" or if the currency is designed to be "short lived," even "after a certain date, we will accept it for purchase at a discount, and this discount will increase each month until the currency becomes worthless."

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  4. WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why has Slashdot posted advertorials for Mr. Blasko for two days in a row now? Man has Slashdot jumped the shark or it isn't disclosure promoted content like it should.

  5. My take is different by Kobun · · Score: 2

    (On the other hand, if large companies will accept it in payment, they've probably got an idea that a given currency will be around next month or next year.)

    I don't think this is the most likely answer. Most likely is that the big companies have an instant exchange set up where a purchase made in bitcoins is immediately converted to dollars, and they charge their customers a small transaction fee in the form of an exchange rate difference.